I teach. I love the act of teaching; I hate the job of teaching. I enjoy coming to work in the morning. I consider quitting teaching because of the bureaucracy. I would have quit teaching were it not for my students. Funny things happen.

I am teaching a video game class, where the kids are learning how to program their own games (there will be more about this later, folks, so just be patient).

While still inside the classroom, I asked the kids to describe, using simple commands like "walk, stop, turn left, turn right" to navigate me around the desks to the other side of the room. They did this splendidly. One of the assistants from USC said, "Now do it blindfolded!" What started as a joke quickly turned into a great idea.

I went to my car, took my dog's scarf out, and gave it a good shake. I went to the corner of the quad, where students now had to give me even more detailed commands. Now, they were giving me turn commands in degree measurements! And then they had to program me to go down the stairs. They were really good about saying, "Now raise your right arm! Grab the rail! Step down! Step down!" It was a really fun exercise, which not only taught them about programming the playable character, but had the added benefit of me learning something from them.

Obviously, letting go and having my teenagers guide my every move was difficult psychologically. It was hard to believe that my kids wouldn't make me step in goo, or that they wouldn't make me brush past a tree or a bench "on accident." It was also difficult physically, since I was wearing high heels! Imagine taking an unseen step, even in 3" heels!

Ultimately, the kids got a kick out of it, and I did not fall and crack my head open and die.